


the last thought

by doodlingstories



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Some Humor, St Mungo's Hospital, We Die Like Men, all the weasleys are there lol, this is just stupid why did i write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 07:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodlingstories/pseuds/doodlingstories
Summary: “I just don’t understand why she’s so insistent on staying by his side. I knew they were good friends, of course they were, but-”Ron snorts.“Ron,” Hermione hisses, and if Ron’s snort hadn’t caught their attention, Hermione’s hiss definitely did.or; Harry suffers from the aftereffects of dying, Ginny holds on, Ron is a tattletale, and Molly cries happy tears.





	the last thought

**Author's Note:**

> to all my friends on the h/g discord that bullied me into finishing this, here you go. 
> 
> love you

When Harry Potter collapses in the Great Hall only mere hours after the battle, there’s a big commotion. 

In hindsight, Ginny thinks the reaction people have to him collapsing is plain stupid. 

“Is this what victory looks like?” some say. 

“If You-Know-Who is gone but Harry Potter still falls, who’s to say we won’t fall as well?” others say. 

The rest of them say things so stupid that Ginny can’t even be bothered to listen in. 

Had they really expected anything else? Anyone who knows Harry, truly, fully _ knows _ him as a human being, would know that he never gets to catch a break. 

(_Well_. That’s not exactly true. He had managed to catch his breath, once upon a time, with Ginny in a hidden corner at Hogwarts. 

Sadly, that was the exception; not the rule.) 

  
  
  


Ginny refuses to leave the chair placed next to his bed at St. Mungo’s, and her parents don’t understand _ why _. Why would they? No one had told them about Harry and Ginny. The only one in the family who knew was Ron, and he’d never tell, because he’s loyal to Harry like that. 

She holds Harry’s hand so gently in her hand, stroking his thumb in the affectionate way she knows he loves. 

“We don’t know how to treat him. We’ve never- I mean, how are we supposed to know how to treat the lingering effects of the killing curse? Mr. Potter has already survived it once - suffice to say, I don’t think there’s much we can do.” The Healer tells the Weasleys. 

“So you’re just- you’re not gonna treat him?”

“I’m saying, Mrs. Weasley, that our best bet is to just wait and see.” 

Ginny doesn’t need to look at her mother to know she’s crying. Ginny bites her tongue, and lets the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes evaporate. 

_ Wait and see my arse_, Ginny thinks bitterly as she lets time do what it does best - it flies by quickly, but you’ll never catch Ginny say she’s grateful for it, even though she is. 

  
  
  


(As far as Ginny is aware, the uncomfortable hospital chair is now her new home. 

(No it isn’t. It’s the person on the bed next to the chair that is her home.))

  
  
  


Bill repeats what Molly had said in front of the rest of his siblings, “I just don’t understand why she’s so insistent on staying by his side. I knew they were good friends, of course they were, but-” 

Ron snorts. 

“Ron,” Hermione hisses, and if Ron’s snort hadn’t caught their attention, Hermione’s hiss definitely did. 

“I think it’s fine to tell them about what happened in the Gryffindor common room last year, Hermione. It’s been a year. Really, it’s kind of a miracle that none of you know,” Ron says casually, as if talking about the weather. 

“Tell us what?” George asks. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Which, in all fairness, he probably hasn’t. Still, he looks curious about this, looks like he’s preparing a few jokes judging by the twinkle in his eyes, even. 

And because Ron takes pity on him, he can’t help but tell him, “That they were together. Harry kissed Ginny after the last Quidditch Match in front of all of Gryffindor. Didn’t you know?” 

“WHAT!” 

“TOGETHER?” 

“You’re JOKING?!” 

“And NO ONE TOLD ME?”

The outburst from the entire family is, with lack of a better word for it, comical. Well; it’s comical to Hermione and Ron, at least. Ron can’t help but laugh, and thinks that Harry should be grateful that Ron hadn’t told them about his birthday kiss, too. 

Hospitalised or not, they’d surely hex him where he lays on the spot. 

The thought amuses Ron more than it should. 

  
  
  


When Harry awakens from his involuntary slumber, it’s slow. It’s a stark contrast to nights where nightmares had woken him up with a start. His eyes flutter, and before he even opens his eyes he knows that someone is watching him. 

That same person is holding his hand. 

He opens his eyes, blinking slowly, and is greeted by the sight of his girlf- of Ginny. Just Ginny. No labels, no labels, _ no labels_. The flaming red hair is so familiar that he immediately feels safe. Her brown eyes are warm and full of relief, and her shoulders seem to sag ever so slightly when she sees he’s awake. 

She says nothing, though. Just holds his hand and looks him in the eyes with the blazing look he has grown to love. 

Because that was what it was. Love. The indescribable feeling he’d felt moments before his death, when he’d imagined her in his mind's eye. 

“Hi,” Harry’s voice is hoarse when he speaks. 

Silence. And then… “Hi.” 

Harry finds it difficult to say the words he really wants to say, and instead tells her, “I was on my way to talk to you, to tell you- before I- y’know.” 

_ Collapsed_. 

He doesn’t say the word, because, if he’s going to be quite honest with himself, it’s embarrassing. 

“Okay,” is all she responds. She looks like she’s contemplating something, and suddenly Harry is reminded of that one time in his second year, of when she’d tried to warn him about Tom Riddle. It’s an intrusive thought, and Harry banishes away from his mind quicker than it manages to linger.

“Where am I?” Harry inevitably asks. 

“St. Mungo’s…” Ginny gnaws on her lower lip, “so. You were gonna tell me something?”

Harry blinks, “Huh?”

Ginny lets out a small laugh, “You were on your way to tell me something…?” 

“Oh! Er, I suppose I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to… get back together?” He sounds so uncertain, and Harry is sure that Ginny wants to laugh at his inability to speak about feelings judging by the tremble of her lips. 

“As if you even needed to ask me that,” she huffs. 

And it’s then that Harry decides to make a complete fool out of himself.

“You were my last thought.” He blurts out.

Ginny startles, “Sorry?”

“Right before Voldemort killed me, I mean. There were probably a trillion things I could’ve been thinking about, but there wasn’t anything else my mind wanted to remember but you. And… I suppose thinking of you helped. Gave me a sense of peace, I think. I won’t deny I wasn’t scared, because I reckon most people would be. Dumbledore would say it’s human to be scared. Er- and-”

He notices a tear fall from her eye before he ends his rambling. 

“- and- and are you crying?”

Ginny takes a deep breath, “It’s entirely your fault. You ought to be worse with words next time you tell me something like that, or I’ll end up crying _ again _.”

She shuffles closer to him, while Harry tells her, “After being around Ron and Hermione for so many years I guess I’ve picked up on what _ not _ to say.”

Ginny laughs, planting her head on his stomach. He can feel her laughter, and it’s so wonderful, because they can be like this and there is no dark wizard stopping them now. 

She lifts her head, and the distance between them now is so abysmal that Harry knows it’s only a matter of time before they kiss. 

When she closes the distance, Harry can’t help but think, _ finally_. 

She’s warm, the kiss is sloppy, and Harry can’t seem to stop shaking, but it’s still the best kiss he’s ever had. He places his hand at the nape of her neck, fingertips brushing against her hair. Ginny sighs into the kiss. Perhaps if Harry weren’t bedridden, she would’ve climbed on top of him, be flush against him as she-

The crash outside the door snaps them both out of the moment, and Harry has to use every single piece of restraint left in him to not groan. 

They separate, and at once Harry misses the warmth of her kiss.

“_Ow- _ George, stop pushing!”

“Oi, shut up you lot, they’re gonna hear-”

“I think they’ve heard us already, Ronald.” 

Ginny rolls her eyes, and tells Harry with a jokingly serious expression, “Last chance to back out of this family.” 

Harry grins. 

Molly is the first to burst into the room. There are tears streaming down her face, and she looks torn between wanting to be happy and just grief. 

“She was your last thought?” she asks; there’s no bite to her words despite only now finding out about their relationship. If anything, she seems… happy for them. Happy for Harry, even. The sadness of her smile is outweighed by the brightness of her eyes. 

“I never knew you to be so romantic, Harry!” Hermione gushes, and the rest of the Weasley men (bar Arthur, of course, who just smiles knowingly behind everyone) groan. 

Harry feels his cheeks go bright red, and knows his face is matching Ginny’s hair colour. Ginny doesn’t seem to mind Harry’s ‘romantic words’. In fact, she seems to be beaming after Harry’s revelation.

And, _ well_, if he gets to see her beam like that every day after blurting out something stupid about how he feels about her, maybe he _ would _ do it ten times over. 

Then she smiles, he feels his stomach go putty, and he thinks, _ yeah, I’d go through any embarrassment to see Ginny smile like that again. _


End file.
